100 Year Anniversary

North Shore Press, the book imprint of Northern Wilds Media, Inc., has just published “Sawdust in Their Blood: 100 years of the Hedstrom Lumber Co”. Available at local retail outlets.

Hedstrom Lumber

The Hedstrom Lumber Co. of Grand Marais celebrated its centennial in 2014 with a series of events the first two weeks in July, culminating in an invitation-only celebration July 10.

Andrew Hedstrom, supported by his wife, Alma Berglund Hedstrom, began sawing lumber on the banks of the Devil Track River in July 1914. To start his mill, Hedstrom, father of seven, was required to turn his back on a thriving carpentry business and put all his family’s hopes on rebuilding a burned-out sawmill that no one believed could be restored.

It was an extraordinarily courageous decision by Andrew and Alma, the first of many such decisions that made it possible for this small family sawmill to survive a tumultuous century of economic shocks, devastating fires, dramatic changes in federal and state forest management policy, and successful management transitions to a second, third and now fourth generation of Hedstroms. Few are the family businesses that survive into a fourth generation.

The story of that survival is told in photos and text in a book commissioned for the centennial celebration, “Sawdust in Their Blood.” It will be available for purchase during the centennial events and afterward in a number of North Shore venues.

Howard Hedstrom, president of Hedstrom Lumber Co., says the company “has a bright future. It will continue investing in the community on several levels, as well as providing employment for the stability of many families. There are also technological and mechanical plans in the works to update and improve the production and safety of the Hedstrom facility.”